I Miss the Early Mornings..

Early mornings, late nights; ah how I have missed this. Last year I would get up and ride before school nearly every morning, come home of an afternoon and ride another horse, come in late. It was great. Still is. Yesterday was the first day I rode before school this year, its such a wake up call in the crisp air, I love it.

Rion has been a fairly good boy this past week. I have done mostly flat work exercises I learnt from my George Morris clinic this year. The exercises work on moving the horse off the leg to come onto a true contact. The importance of the leg was engrained into my mind from that clinic I will never forget their importance again. The main exercise I love and use with any horse I ride is to use shoulder fore/in then change to haunches in and then straight and repeat. It really gets the horses working, accepting the contact and moving laterally which is always good. I always use it in my warm-ups at a walk then move onto a trot.

Pippy (my friend’s horse I’m competing this weekend) has been doing well. There is little I can change in the week I have her before this weekend but I have been doing the above exercise to get her forward and in front of my leg and off the forehand. Yesterday afternoon I set up three jumps on the arena for her; a cross, vertical and oxer. The vertical was a turn back then 6 stride dog leg to the oxer. She was jumping so well. She has a tendency to run and get quick, as ponies do sometimes, but I just sat quiet, holding with my stomach and such a light contact. The waiting distances definitely do her a world of good. She has such a spring in her jump she doesn’t need to be fast or even overly forward as she has a tendency to be.

That’s all until I post from day one of competing :)